The contest for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s central president became tense when one candidate filed an application with the party’s election commission alleging that his opponent was involved in the Mehran Bank scandal.
Umer Sarfarz Cheema alleged that former federal minister Javed Hashmi had been found involved in the Mehran Bank scam and that he was mentioned in the Asghar Khan case and should not be allowed to contest any political party’s office. The election commission rejected the petition.
Cheema added that a person should be mentally and physically sound to become a PTI member.
He alleged that Hashmi was neither.
Chief election commissioner Hamid Khan rejected the petition, saying that candidates could not file such objections on the polling day.
PTI Punjab President Ejaz Chaudhary said Cheema had violated the party’s discipline by filing the application. He said any complaint should have been addressed to the appropriate forum and at the appropriate time.
As many as 241 newly elected members at the district, regional and provincial level voted on Thursday to elect 28 office bearers of the central council. Another 14 had been elected unopposed, including Chairperson Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Imran Khan congratulated the nation on the end of a “corrupt and cruel government’s rule” and added that the PTI would celebrate the Day of Deliverance at Minar-i-Pakistan on March 23. He also thanked the party workers. Khan urged other political parties to learn how intra-party elections should be contested from PTI. He said if the other parties did not follow the path his party had pioneered they would very soon lose relevance.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2013.